For car and motorcycle enthusiasts there is scarcely a more sacred space than the garage. This is where it all happens: the restoring of relics and resurrecting of wrecks, the polishing of tall tales and tail fins and friendships formed over a shared passion for automotive speed and style. Dream Garages takes the reader into over 20 of these havens for the motor-mad. Some are beautifully conceived automotive shrines, some are grease-monkey heavens, and others are accidental creations. Dream Garages offers a profile of each garage and its owner, along with fabulous images from top automotive photographers including Peter Vincent, Robert Genat, James Mann, and David Gooley.

The building at 801 Hungerford Drive is the only modern “car culture” gas station left in Rockville and one of the very few buildings associated with Rockville Pike’s role in the town becoming a car-dependent suburban community of Washington DC in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Period of Significance for the property is limited to the date of construction -- 1963. Although the building is less than 50 years old, it is considered a “Fragile or Short-Lived Resource.” According to the National Register Bulletin No. 22 “changing transportation routes, and shifts in consumer tastes have jeopardized many early …roadside buildings. Their rate of survival with integrity from the post World War II era is very low”. The building at 801 Hungerford Drive is a cement block gas station/ auto repair commercial facility constructed in 1963 and sited between a six-lane section of Hungerford Drive and the tracks of the MetroRail and MARC. The one-story building is located on a corner lot and has a square footprint. The massing consists of a square set into a L-shaped corner attached to the north and east sides of the square. The L-shape rectangular sections contain repair service bays for the garage. The station is set toward the back corner of the lot, providing paved frontage. Two landscape islands, one on the corner and the other fronting Hungerford Drive, are the exception to the pavement.

The building has a flat composition roof and a projecting plain cornice. The corner L-shaped section is 1-2 feet higher than the roof of the square section that fronts the building. The cornice on the square section projects out further than the cornice on the taller section of the building, providing a canopy effect. The cornice lists the type of automobile repair done by the shop: tune-ups, brakes, exhaust, tires, etc. The square customer lobby has west and south elevations consisting of large plate glass windows that are canted forward at the top about 15 degrees. Recessed entrances are located in the center of the elevation with large angled, single-sheet glass sidewalls. The windows reach from the projecting cornice down to a one-foot high poured concrete foundation wall. Each of the two elevations contains four window panels, with the recessed entry dividing them into groups of two. The panels that are closest to the garage repair bays are not single panes – they are jalousies. These could be replacement windows to provide additional circulation.

The first gas station in the country was built in 1907 when a Standard Oil of California bulk station used an old water heater mounted on a stand to dispense gasoline. By 1910 gas was dispensed from underground tanks and curb pumps started appearing all over the country.

The first off-street filling station was built in Pittsburgh in 1913. Early gas stations were designed to look like small houses. By mimicking the current architectural styles they fit in with the community and became accepted parts of the built environment. An early gas station in Montgomery County was the Kensington Service Center (1926) a Bungalow type form that is a contributing resource in the Kensington Historic District.

The Takoma Park Historic District contains two historic gas stations: a Tudor Revival model with stone trim openings and a half timbered gable, and the only remaining Art Deco gas station in the county.

After the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 there was a great emphasis on high-speed visibility.When GM designer Harley Earl took airplane tailfins and put them on the Cadillac, these dramatically angled forms became an icon of American design and architecture. This design idiom is found locally on the 1948-54 Twinbrook subdivision houses.

Even in this small gas station, the angled forward pitch of the windows suggest an era when automobile related buildings reflected the thrill of speed that new cars and the new highways provided. With increased speeds, these buildings needed taller and brighter signs, and buildings that had forward aerodynamic forms.

In 1959, Arthur H. Bowie and Kenneth T. Sullivan conveyed the piece of land that is now 801 Hungerford to the Thriftway Oil Corporation. The state property tax records show the current gas station was built in 1963. The 1961 City of Rockville directory has 23 listings for gasoline stations, most of which were on Rockville Pike.

The 1968 Rockville City Directory also identifies 23 Gas Stations. Most of these are affiliated with the large oil companies of the time, such as Adams Gulf Station, or Cannon’s Esso, or Crouch’s Texaco. Many listed themselves as places to service the car, rather than gas stations. Listings include Johnson’s Esso Servicenter (a popular hybrid descriptor), Beall’s Esso Servicenter, Dilworth’s American Service Center, and Dodson’s Texaco Service.

The 1968 Rockville directory lists a Rockville 66 Auto Service at 801 N. Washington Street.Based on the surrounding addresses and directory notations, it appears that the 801 N. Wash

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tv news coverage to the low profile community garage after the news...

there's a new mailbox to this typical silicon valley detached house, more historical than most though; sorry that this hdr shot(s) took the new landowner's car and other things too...

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